The Red Shoes
Director of Photography on The Red Shoes (GB 1948/Dir. Powell & Pressburger)
Sketches by Ivor Beddoes (1910-1981)
JC: "A few days before Black Narcissus finished in the studios, Michael Powell asked me what I thought of ballet. I said, 'Not much' and Michael asked had I ever been to a ballet. Touché, I hadn't! He said, 'Well, you'd better get started because our next film is The Red Shoes.' I had tickets for Covent Garden almost every night and totally fell in love with ballet".
"Massine, one of the greatest ballet figures of all time, was fascinating to know. He had known and worked with people like Picasso, Cocteau, Diaghalev, Tchaikovsky. We became good friends. Although he was in his early fifties, he would always be the first on the set in the morning, practising on the barre for half an hour before anyone arrived".
